Bearing down upon their third-portal’d realm with uncountable winged monstrosity in tow Berlin, Germany-based death metal quintet DEHUMAN REIGN return for a thrashing third full-length album which further escalates their command over the ‘old school’ death metal craft. ‘Dawn of a Malefic Dominion‘ persists on an impossible plane of existence where their work retains the canon of the early 90’s yet manifests decades worth of permutation scaled back to thrashed n’ blasted spectacle, recreating the sensation of old per the listening experience and extending the reach of their own voice within tradition. The result is intense, erratic within the bounds of sense and set aflame by worthy riffcraft throughout.

Dehuman Reign formed as a quartet back in 2011 featuring folks who’d by majority been active in nearby 2000’s death metal scenery (Harmony Dies, Necromorph, etc.) but this time with intent on something squarely ‘old school’ death metal inspired sans any modern associations. By 2012 they’d found a singer to complete the lineup and by 2013 their first EP release, ‘Destructive Intent‘, was released to some mild notice. On one hand it was something different from the usual early 90’s death metal sounds and caverncore being recreated in the early 2010’s, on the other hand their style represented an acceleration of Florida death metal sounds which fans of Polish death metal beyond Vader‘s early 90’s breakthrough would/will appreciate. This much was still true by the time they’d released a more acclaimed debut LP (‘Ascending From Below‘, 2016) and at that point you could hear their interest in machine-gunned thrash metal, Death, Morbid Angel and with some moderately technical ideas shining through.

These folks were pros right out the gate, each of Dehuman Reign‘s records have been above-average in terms of performance, render and curation from the outset yet I’d found their kinda mid-paced sophomore LP (‘Descending Upon the Oblivious‘, 2020) particularly underrated for the leap in quality and vision it’d served. This was the bar set for ‘Dawn of a Malefic Dominion‘ in terms of carrying some thrashing, militant brutality into ~4-5 minute pure death metal songs centered around moderately technical, riff-driven songs. What they’ve managed here is more death-thrashing than expected as clarified production values and varietal tones now create an increasingly chaotic and rocket-kicked sound. Opener “Cursed to Feed on Flesh” showcases this different sense of movement alongside a sorta croaked, more verbose side of vocalist Alex‘ tone, a slightly more guttural path which lends a different personality to the band’s work. The kinda early Pestilence meets ‘De Profundis‘ rally through “Let Chaos Reign” which comes afterward probably serves the best example of how differently the band’ve approached this record without rendering themselves unrecognizable.

For the first five or so songs ‘Dawn of a Malefic Dominion‘ more-or-less delivers an onslaught compared to previous records, shredding through those pieces with more thrashing brutality than expected, coming closer to a late 90’s/early 2000’s inspired edge without fully falling into that level of exaggerated pace and movement. The Death inspired monstrosity at the peak of the album’s energetic ramping, “Post-Traumatic Suicide Syndrome“, does a particularly good job of retaining a 90’s thrash metal gunned groove to their sound while making a somewhat tuneful song of it. The whole of Side A generally ramps up to that point, obviously making a feature of its final piece while threatening to wear out their riff count on the way there and because of this it ends up being the most engaging part of the record overall.

Side B, or, the second half of this record finds Dehuman Reign dipping into material which is moodier, briefly mid-paced (“An Envoy From The In-Between”) before finishing the thought with one of the more typical pieces on the record per “Preparing Armageddon”. Overall this compliments the first half via the more fiery pieces on offer, such as “Heretic”, but just as well the variation offered beyond pure riff and blasted-out attack lacks in its impact overall compared to the best parts of ‘Descending Upon the Oblivious‘. Otherwise there are a ton of intricate details fashioned into each song here and with more time spent it all blurs together into a heavier, more aggressive side of the band stoked into an engrossing full listen. I’ve found every record from these folks even better than the last and this continues to be true with ‘Dawn of a Malefic Dominion‘. Though I am not sure how long it’ll stick in mind just yet this record has thus far proven both thrilling and familiar enough to spin for hours on end. A high recommendation.

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